What Happened?
Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi Arabian journalist based in the U.S., went missing Tuesday, Oct. 2, after entering the Saudi Consulate in Turkey to pick up a document, according to the New York Times.
Khashoggi was a known critic of the Saudi regime. He resided in Virginia, where he was a columnist for The Washington Post, according to the New York Times.
Khashoggi had traveled to the consulate to obtain divorce paperwork. Surveillance footage showed him entering the consulate, and has not been seen ever since, the New York Times reported.
Turkish investigators said that Saudi agents planned to lure Khashoggi to Saudi Arabia and kill him inside the consulate, according to the New York Times.
Turan Kislakci, the head of Turkish Arab Media Association, said officials told him that “[Khashoggi] was killed and his body was dismembered,” the New York Times reported.
Saudis denied that they were involved in the disappearance and said that Khashoggi left the building, but with no evidence to support their statements. Khashoggi’s fiancé, who was waiting for him outside the consulate, said he never came out, according to CNN.
The Latest
Saudi officials are preparing to release a report stating that Khashoggi died during an interrogation that “went wrong.” The interrogation was reportedly intended to lead to his abduction from Turkey, the CNN reported Monday afternoon.
President Donald Trump tweeted Monday morning that he spoke to the king of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, who “denies any knowledge of whatever may have happened ‘to our Saudi Arabian citizen.'”
Trump stated that he is sending U.S. Secretary Mike Pompeo of State to Saudi Arabia immediately to discuss the issue with King Salman.
A source told CNN that the report is still being prepared and “cautioned that things could change.”